SEPARATIVE

Professor Fabrice Gritti, principal consulting scientist for Waters Corporation, the leading U.S. chromatography company, and Professors Dzmitry Hlushkou and Ulrich Tallarek, from the Philips University in Marburg, Germany, have recently published an article in one of the foremost scientific journals in the discipline, the Journal of Chromatography A, that examines the potential of SEPARATIVE’s proprietary universal multicapillary diffusional-bridging (UMDB) columns – called multiple-open-tubular columns enabling transverse diffusion (MOTTD) in the article – as an alternative to the poorly efficient multiple porous-layer open tubular (MPLOT) column technologies currently in use, and presents a model of band broadening along MOTTD columns in order to evaluate their separation time-pressure performance.[1]

Validation of the model by Gritti and colleagues reveals the intrinsic advantage of SEPARATIVE’s UMDB (MOTTD) columns.  “Based on the validated HETP [height equivalent to a theoretical plate] model for analyte dispersion in MOTTD columns, the prospective study presented in this work predicts that the speed-resolution characteristics of MOTTD columns … largely outperforms conventional packed … or silica monolithic …  columns for the same phase ratio and retention factor.” According to the authors, SEPARATIVE’s technology has the potential to become the universal benchmark for chemical analysis and should lead to “a significant improvement in column technology relative to current particulate and silica monolithic columns”. They conclude by stating that “this work should encourage chemists, material scientists, and experts in the growing field of 3D-printing technologies to prepare such a novel silica monolithic architecture”.

This is precisely what SEPARATIVE’s laboratory team has accomplished. SEPARATIVE’s multicapillary chromatography system, resulting from six years of research and development by the French startup and protected by five international patents, involves covering microfilaments with a monolayer of spherical silica gel microbeads (20-45 µm). On being heated in a furnace, the microfilaments evaporate leaving a 200-micron hexagonal compact array of perfectly round and calibrated flow-through open channels embedded in a mesoporous stationary monolith. The research behind this technology was presented by SEPARATIVE’s CEO François Parmentier at the 17^th International Symposium on Preparative and Industrial Chromatography and Allied Techniques (SPICA) in 2018.[2]

Separation chromatography technologies are used in all fields of chemistry, from petroleum to pharmacy, and from cosmetics and to food, and have been the source of the greatest innovations in modern-day chemistry. SEPARATIVE’s revolutionary technology is expected to increase the performance of existing chromatography devices tenfold. Furthermore, the increase in accuracy and speed that the system brings to analytical operations will make it possible to detect all kinds of molecules at a lower cost, such as pollutants and pesticides, which promises to open new horizons in the biosciences and carbon-free energy sectors.

Once on the market, the SEPARATIVE chromatography technology will represent a real paradigm shift and open up a new era of innovative “green” chemical products.

For a more detailed summary of this publication, please click here.

[1] Gritti F, Hlushkou D, Tallarek U. Multiple-open-tubular column enabling transverse diffusion. Part 1: Band broadening, Journal of Chromatography A, Vol. 1625, August 16, 2020, 461325.

[2] Francois PARMENTIER, OC09 – Improvement of Multicapillary Packing Efficiency by Diffusional Bridging: A Theoretical and Dynamic Simulation Study, SPICA 2018, Darmstadt, Germany, October 7-10, 2018.

About SEPARATIVE :

French innovative start-up based in the Axel’One Plateform, SEPARATIVE was incorporated in 2014. It develops preparative HPLC columns usable with low pressure and targets the global purification market in the pharmaceutical industry, which weights over 3 B€ a year.

Supported by Bpifrance and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region through several innovation aids, the start-up has been awarded at many innovation challenges such as Emergence (2014), I-Lab (2016), H2020 SME Instrument Phase 1 (2018) and I-Nov (2019).

The technology can be applied to all types of chromatography. Therefore, SEPARATIVE is looking for partners to co-develop several product ranges.

More information : https://separative.net/

SEPARATIVE, a company hosted on the Axel'One innovative Processes Platform in Solaize, was selected for phase 1 of the Instrument PME call for projects. SEPARATIVE is supported by the European Commission for 5 months since May 2018.

Created in 2014, SEPARATIVE develops a new molecular separation technology based on a ground-breaking multicapillary material. This new material breaks with the state-of-the-art chromatography. It was inhibited for decades by the operating pressure inerrant to current technologies. SEPARATIVE multicapillary chromatography columns operate at a pressure 10 to 30 times lower than current columns.

The potential for value creation is four types:

• The multiplication of the separation power, likely to generate growth drivers for all chemical industries in particular for pharmaceutical, biotechnologies, cosmetics, aromas, oil and nuclear;
• The time reduction of each operation of analysis or purification making it possible to increase considerably laboratory and factory productivity;
• The investment reduction in equipment which can reach a factor of 10;
• A more ecological chromatography that respects the health of employees thanks to a two to four reduction factor in the consumption of flammable and toxic solvents.

SEPARATIVE initially targets the healthcare market and develops HPLC columns that can be used on Flash equipment. The technology can be applied to all types of chromatography and SEPARATIVE is looking for partners to co-develop the product ranges.

By accessing phase 1 of the SME Instrument program, SEPARATIVE must meet a double challenge: finalize the industrialization of prototype production and position itself in the value chain of laboratory equipment manufacturers through the development of partnerships. The aim is to be able to produce daily around ten preparative prototypes and to start selling to manufacturers.

For more information:

• About Separative: www.separative.net

About the SME Instrument program: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/sme-instrument